Images from the Dempster Highway in the Yukon

This year I made an early New Year resolution back in November to make sure that I maintained a healthy lifestyle through the winter period.  A lot of people like myself commit to goals like this but fall short of achieving this. So how was I going to follow through with this promise to myself. Well I have come up short most winters so I how could make this one different. I needed to take my health serious. So this article is about getting a game plan for  fitness during winter.

First,  I had to be honest with myself about why I wanted to be healthy. That was simple,  I wanted to be able to do lots of hiking when spring and summer came around. If I waited till spring  to get into shape then it would be too late. So I really thought hard and long about my reasons for it; I then I had to come up with a game plan to get into action and stay consistent. When it comes to fitness plans and goals almost all fail. So how was I going to find a fitness plan that I could stick with. Like many I seem to fall into a winter slump and hibernate into a lazy lifestyle. In the Pacific Northwest it rains a lot  and thus it takes some motivation and determination to stick with fitness goals when it is so much easier to stay warm indoors and be lazy.

My first plan of action was to find a gym that I liked and was close enough in proximity. In the past I have chosen gyms based on lower costs but travel times of more than half a hour. I found out that this never works as you rationalize that travel time is too long and you end up doing something else. So I had to find a gym close enough to take away that excuse of travel time regardless of how much it cost. Once I started going to the gym, I had to find the motivation in me to keep going on a daily basis. I had to find exercises that not only interested me but also challenged me. The main reason most people don’t stick with a gym is the lack of a clear goal and doing the same exercises day in and out. So I set forth a plan that would get me through the winter and allow me to continually push myself.

To achieve this you have to have a starting point that you can look back at to see a progression in your health. As hard as it may be you need to do a couple of things, which are very hard to do. You need a baseline weight of course but you also need to take pictures of yourself and get yourself some measurements of your starting point. I hated to do this and was avoiding it but once it was done I could move forward by charting how much progress I was making each week. I found some good fitness goals that would take me through the winter and spring and get me in prime shape for hiking in summer.

I choose a fitness plan that would be focused on strengthening my cardio to go longer distances when hiking. So exercise goals included a lot of treadmill, and interval training. After a few months of this, I really stepped up the intensity and duration as well. I now center my strength training  by doing a lot of leg exercises that include squats, and core abdominal exercises.
The next step in my goal was to be able to hike not only longer distances but carry more weight; to achieve this I have started adding a 30-50 pound backpack while doing all steady state cardio. This really has gotten my body used to carrying heavier weights for longer distances.

The immediate benefit of this goal has been the ability to do steeper hikes as well. To prepare for this I make sure to include the stair climber in my workout a couple of times a month. At first it really is painful and not much fun but the body really gets used to it fairly quick. Whether on the treadmill or any other cardio machine I make sure to include both long periods of steady-state cardio as well as interval training which primes the body for long distances when hiking. Interval training includes exercises where you do short bursts or sprints followed up by short period of rest. Keep interval training short for periods of 10-15 minutes followed by steady state cardio like a easy walk of 30 minutes. Remember to try adding the backpack when walking or doing the treadmill. Goals in terms of the heart rate should be around 90% when doing interval burst training and then around 65-70% when doing steady state cardio training.

Remember  to keep it simple and choose you can see progress as well as challenge myself on a daily basis. Try to do something everyday so that it becomes a habit and not something you have to think about.  Reward myself when you reach certain goals and thus allows you to maintain interest in keeping a goal through the winter. The most important element is consistency so that when Spring comes you are ready to hit the trails. Remember if you like what you are doing you are much more likely to stick with it. See you on the trails !!!

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